The present invention relates to a hard hat for use by personnel on a construction site where the hard hat includes electronic circuitry configured to directly or indirectly indicate location of personnel wearing the hard hats on the construction site, and store personal information uniquely associated with the personnel wearing the hard hats.
Maintaining workplace safety at construction sites is an arduous task. Construction sites pose unique and complicated challenges which make monitoring personnel safety difficult. For example, various people access a construction site throughout the life of a project, each person being responsible for a particular task or tasks. Some personnel may require access to certain areas of a construction site while others may not. For example, drivers require access to material loading and loading areas at a construction site while other workers require access to material processing areas for assembling delivered materials into useable construction material, e.g., a cement mixing zone for combining sand, water, etc. Still other personnel such as steel workers, plumbers, electricians, etc. require access to buildings being constructed at the site. Supervisors often have access to the entire site while other personnel such as inspectors may require limited access to particular areas during certain phases of a project. Authorization levels may change as a project advances, further complicating matters.
Various considerations such as safety requirements, training, certification, trade, skill level, experience, etc. may dictate which personnel have authorization to enter a particular area and which ones do not. In some situations, failure to satisfy required safety standards such as those mandated by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) in the United States can be costly and ultimately lead to shutdown of a construction site. For example, some areas of a construction site may contain hazardous materials. Personnel lacking sufficient safety equipment and training are prohibited from entering these areas. Unauthorized access or lack of supervision may result in fines or other sanctions.
As a result, tracking personnel activity and location at a construction site is a difficult task. Conventionally, some form of manual supervision is used. For example, personnel activity is conventionally monitored at a construction site by one or more supervisors who are physically present at the site or by personnel who remotely monitor cameras positioned throughout the construction site. Regardless, manual tracking of personnel activity at a construction site is expensive and unreliable at times, especially given the complex and dynamic nature of construction sites.